First Salticid of 2014!

We had some great weather this weekend — good enough that I decided to meed my dad at the Chesapeake Arboretum. It was quite windy so finding spiders on plants wasn’t very likely. Instead I just went to my favorite spot, a huge mulch pile in the parking lot. I’ve seen all kinds of interesting things on this pile — snakes, frogs, centipedes, and of course spiders.

I happened to see my favorite jumping spider, a male Habronattus coecatus. I’ve only ever seen them at this location, and specifically on this mulch pile. What a lucky day.